Ripples in the Water
by Y.K.Willstone
Summary: It's sixth year and Harry has a lot on his plate; Sirius' death, Ron and Hermione arguing at any chance, Voldemort hell bent on destroying him. He just wants to get away from it all. But a moonlit stroll around the lake takes an unforseen turn and Harry's life will never be the same again.
1. I

It had been cold, that was one of the things that stood out the most about that night more than anything else. It was so cold that nothing else seemed to be out; the lake stood silent and brooding in the middle of the landscape.

Harry could remember the prickle on the back of his neck that first alerted him to danger. He was outside for a very simple reason; Ron had annoyed him too many times and he needed to think without seeing Ron and Lavender snogging each other senseless. He had headed outside so that nobody knew where he was.

The full moon had loomed over the Hogwarts grounds like a silver ball floating on a sea of clouds and it had been reflected in the black mass of the lake. Looking a the black depths of the lake, he had thought about his life. He thought about his parents; how they had given their lives so that he could live. He did know if he had lived up to their expectations.

He would never know, he thought miserably. He had thought about how he never knew them. How they had never known him. They had never know what he would look like, see how he was getting on at Hogwarts or even talk to him about all the people he knew. His mother would never look at his friends and tell him to stay away from the influence of the twins. His father would never give him any advice on dating or gossip with him about the things that he had done while he was at Hogwarts. He had wondered if they were looking down on him now as he watched the full moon.

Ron and Hermione could never understand; Ron had hundreds of family members - once he had tried to count up the number of family members but had lost count at around fifty (his second cousin twice removed on his fathers side - Freya Jennings). He had only ever know how to live in the wizarding world and anything else was foreign to him. Hermione, being a muggleborn, could understand Harry's confusion in the wizarding world and at being the only person in the family with magic, however she always had her head in her books; looking through the books for facts that she might never find useful but thought that she should learn just in case they did come in handy. Or some reason like that.

A howl had echoed from the forbidden forest. Full moon, Harry remembered thinking. The howling grew closer to him; closer to the lake and louder and louder until it sounded to be only a few meters behind where he was sitting by the lake. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and woke up to attention. Full moon...

Full moon.

Harry remembered running as fast as he could, running far away from the forest and back around the lake, but he was sure something was following him, running faster than he was through the forest right towards him.

A quick look back, his worst fears were realised and he knew what it was, a werewolf. The werewolf had patched grey fur and was very thin but this clearly didn't affect the speed that it could travel at.

Harry remembered his heart pounding in his chest as if it were trying to get out. There was a small moment where it was just him running and it following. But then something, the werewolf, hit him. It lunged towards him, he moved to the left making the claws tear his sleeve and his arm, making him bleed.

Harry switched direction so that he was moving toward the light of Hagrid's cabin. In one swift movement his wand was in his hand. "Supify!" He yelled at the wolf, making the werewolf slow down briefly. Hagrid's hut was five hundred meters away.

The wolf came at him again, this time Harry realised it a second before it happened. Ducking, he changed direction a second time, making the wolf go over his head but not without getting its claws into his back. Yelling out in pain Harry came into the shade of the forest. Hagrid's cabin was three hundred meres away.

Harry heard, as if the noise was coming through speakers, the animal breathing. Harry stopped suddenly as he came to a dead end before the forest. He cleared his head and ran through the outskirting parts of the forest; the werewolf hot on his toes. His life started to flash in front of his eyes.

Green light.

Screams.

The cupboard under the stairs.

Being beaten by Uncle Vernon.

The forest had been dark and wet, every movement that he made created a crunching sound on the floor beneath him, the wolf was gaining speed. Air rustled past his ear.

Meeting Hagrid.

Coming to Hogwarts.

Ron.

Hermione.

The stone. He ducked under an upturned tree and jumped over a deep ditch; the light from Hagrid's cabin acted as a lighthouse in a storm; the wolf was only a meter or so behind him.

He could hear every breath, every intake and exhale of air.

Borgen and Burkes.

The writing on the wall.

Tom Riddle.

Ginny.

A flurry of noise to his right alerted him to another attack from the werewolf. He had ducked and the werewolf had gone straight over his head without scratching him. Hagrid's hut seemed to be getting further away but Harry, undeterred, had sprinted once again towards it.

Aunt Marge.

The Grimm.

Sirius.

Pettigrew.

The Dementor.

Harry let out a cry; trying to get the attention of anybody who might be out at this time in the evening. He hoped that Hagrid was in the cabin. Sweat trickled down his forehead and Harry had pushed himself to get to the door of the hut which was mere meters away.

The Tournament.

Cedric.

Voldemort.

The pain from his shoulder was getting steadily worse. He put his hand to it to try and slow the bleeding but in his moment of hestitation the wolf was upon him.

Umbridge.

The DA.

He felt the teeth of the werewolf.

Sirius fell throught the veil in front of a laughing Bellatrix.

He felt the pain.

Remus held him back from going with him.

The pain was so bad he felt like he was going to pass out or be sick.

He could feel the venom from the bite slowly going through his body. Seeping into his very being and causing pain in his insides as if they were on fire. He pushed the werewolf away with all his might and screamed again.

He saw Hagrid's door opening, light coming out of the crack. He saw the man himself hurry out of the door, pink umbrella at his side. Harry tried to run but the pain was too much.

He saw the werewolf go for Hargid but the giant just shot off a spell and the werewolf moved away from Hagrid and had gone back to Harry. "Fang!" Harry had heard Hagrid call and the black boar hound came racing out if the cabin.

Black spots started to circle his vision, getting closer and closer to the centre of his eye. Harry saw Fang fight with the werewolf and Hagrid taking the opportunity to rush to his side.

"Oh Harry." Hagrid had said, sinking to his knees and firing another spell off, this time in the direction of the castle "What've you done?"

The lake, far away sparkled in dark amusement. The blackness circled his view again.

He fought to stay awake. Keeping his eyes fixed on the lake. He felt arms around him, lifting him off the ground.

The blackness won.

* * *

Reviews make me smile - flames will be used to roast marshmellows : )


	2. II

There was white - Harry could see it through his eyelids - a harsh light that seemed to grow brighter every minute that he lay still. He tried moving onto his side without opening his eyes but a sharp pain there ended any present and future attempts to roll over.

Deciding he might as well see where he was he opened an eye and blinked quickly to get used to the bright light that was flooding the room he was in. His glasses sat on the bedside table next to him, he reached out from the cocoon of blanket surrounding him and put them on.

He sat up quickly and regretted it almost instantly as not only his side lit up in pain; but also his eyesight exploded into millions of colours. "Mr Potter lie back down this instant!" Madam Pomfrey was at his side in a matter of seconds and she helped ease him back into the lying position he had woke up in. She propped his top half up with cushions so he could see something other than the ceiling; all the while chiding him for being to risk taking though the tone of her voice was kind and caring. "I hope you have had enough midnight wanderings now Mr Potter."

He winced and she looked at him critically "You'll be wanting this." She handed him a lime green bottle of potion. Which he swallowed in a matter of seconds though he almost spat it out as soon as it was in his mouth.

"Ahh!" he complained after swallowing the rest of the foul concoction.

"You should take better care of yourself Mr Potter; that way you wouldn't have to suffer through the heavy pain medication that you need at the moment." Madam Pomfrey lectured as Harry downed a glass of water that she handed him. After his third glass of water Harry looked up to Madam Pomfrey putting her wand on the bedside table, next to his.

He gave her a pointed look "I have to check on the wound - there is a possibility that you might not have contracted the condition." Harry looked at her in shock.

"What do you mean?"

"In some cases, Mr Potter, there isn't enough toxin in the bite to give the victim the condition," she made Harry sit up straight in the bed and continued when Harry gave her a disbelieving look "This can be caused by weakness or mutation in the werewolf who inflicted the bite."

"So I might not be a werewolf?" Harry asked.

"There is a tiny possibility of that, yes," Madam Pomfery started taking off the bandages from Harry's shoulder "Werewolf bites, no matter what the toxin levels are, cannot be healed by magic influence so I'm afraid that you are going to have to get used to the pain."

In a few minutes the bandages were off and Madam Pomfrey was inspecting the wound with intense concentration, prodding it in some places and in others she just moved her hand over the wound which caused Harry to flinch away slightly until she gave him a glare and he, slowly, moved back to where she was. Five minutes later Madam Pomfrey replaced the bandages and started casting (what seemed to be diagnostic) spells on Harry. She nodded as if they were telling her something important. "Well Potter," she said "It will take about twenty minutes for those spells to come to fruit, as the muggles say, so I will tell the headmaster that he can come in."

"Dumbledore's here?" Harry asked, so surprised that the headmaster was there that he accidentally tried to sit further forwards, stretched the wound and let out a surprised cry of pain. Madam Pomfery helped him back into the pillows ("Honestly Potter!") and went to the doors of the hospital wing and stuck her head around the door.

She said something to the person/people outside the hospital wing which was muffled by the door. Before long the door opened a fraction more and Harry caught sight of not only Dumbledore's silvery white beard but also of Ron's ginger hair and half of Hermione's face (which was half masked by Madam Pomfery). Harry even thought he saw a glimpse of Remus' patched clothing before the door closed and Madam Pomfery came back over to Harry's bedside.

"Professor Dumbledore is wondering if you would mind Mr Lupin being present when the results are given."

Harry quickly nodded to the request and Remus and the headmaster were both shown into the hospital wing. Remus looked tired, had large bags around his eyes and a limp. Harry felt a pang of guilt for forcing Remus to come out so soon after a full moon. Not seeming to care about the limp, Remus broke into a run to get to the side of Harry's bed. "Are you feeling okay Cub? Do you need more pillows? More-"

"Remus I'm fine!"

"Other than the huge chunk that the werewolf took out of your shoulder?" The question was joking, Remus was not.

"Yes, apart from that." Harry and Remus sat in silence for a minute longer and watched Madam Pomfery and Professor Dumbledore talk until "Remus, how long have I been here in the hospital wing?"

Remus jumped slightly and looked at Harry smiling slightly "I wondered when you were going to ask that? You've been here for three days and two nights. It's about 4pm now."

"And how did I-" Harry trailed off.

"Get here?" Remus dropped the smile.

"Yes, that."

"Hagrid bought you here, he came here as soon as the werewolf had been fended off by Fang and (unofficially of cause) a few well timed stunners on Hagrid's part. Then he ran here and woke Poppy up without letting you go (or so I am told) until she let him help her, he thought that she would take too long on her own to get you stable - panic does bring you the more protective side to us all," Remus took in a deep breath "By the time they had you stable Harry, they had woken Dumbledore (and a good number of the other Professors in the process), the full moon had gone down.

Dumbledore came and healed me enough so that I could make the journey here. I think he thought that you might do with some...moral support."

Harry took a moment and thought about things, he suddenly looked up, shocked "But what about the werewolf that bit me? What happened to it after it got away from Hagrid's hut?"

Remus squinted as the winter sun came low enough over the lake to light up the hospital wing through the window nearest Harry "There was a search for the werewolf conducted as soon as the other Professors were roused enough in the morning to go out and look for a person (other than myself of cause) who showed signs of being in a battle that night."

"Did they find them?"

"Unfortunately no, but they did track the signature to one of the borders of the castle. It seems that when Dumbledore came to get me that morning, they used the opportunity to get out of the boundaries and into Hogsmede," Remus looked at Harry "They didn't catch him Harry, I'm sorry."

Harry was about to tell Remus that it wasn't his fault, when Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey came over to the bedside. "Harry my boy," Dumbledore said "I hope you realise that the results of this test - whether positive or negative - does not effect your stay at Hogwarts. I would be more than happy for you to be a student here until you finish up next year and (dependant on your NEWT scores of cause) I am sure that we as a staff could pool our resources to get you a job."

Harry stopped, of cause, being a werewolf was almost as bad as being a muggle in the eyes of most of wizarding society. He hadn't thought about that. This test could decide the rest of the standard of his living, for the rest of his life. Forever. He looked at the headmaster, who was looking at him sans the normal sparkle of his eyes behind his half moon glasses. He unstuck his tongue "Thank you Sir."

"You're very welcome Harry, though I think you might want to save all of your dooming thoughts - the thoughts that you are no doubt having - until you are sure of the results of the test. And remember; there are worse things than being a werewolf. I have often thought that being a muggle servant would be the worst thing in the world. Doing all the hard work and then getting none of the thanks for it."

"Right Sir."

"Anyway, Madam Pomfrey. If you would."

The matron moved her wand over the bandages on Harry's shoulder "Mr Potter, the spell that I am doing now might sting a little bit but I assure you that it will be over almost before it's begun." Her words were then followed by a sharp sensation making it's way though the site of the wound, down his arm and into his hand. It was a sharp pain thar caused Harry to grab onto the nearest thing (which happened to be Remus' arm) in pain. Madam Pomfrey moved his hand onto a piece of parchment that she summoned from her office.

"Now Mr Potter, this part is the part where we find out if you have enough toxin in your blood to turn you. I will place your hand on this parchment it will give most of the diagnostic information about what's going on inside your body at the moment."

She did this and, after a minute of intense suspense, words started to appear on the parchment:

Harry James Potter  
Male  
16 year and 5 months

Curse Scar  
No impact on health at the moment

Other Scars  
No impact in health

Varying Scratches  
Mixture of healing and healed

Werewolf Bite  
Toxin levels 47%  
Non - Lethal  
Magic resistant  
Toxin in bite not enough to cause transformation at present levels.

Harry looked at the parchment in disbelieve, it was all going to be okay. Nothing was going to happen and he was going to be okay. No transformation, nothing. His grip on Remus lessened as he felt the man go slack. "See Harry," Dumbledore said "Nothing to worry about. I'll still need to talk to you before you are discharged but I think the rest of the school would feel left out if I do not join them this morning at the feast." The old man smiled, nodded to both Remus (who was still looking at the parchment on Harry's lap in disbelief) and Madam Pomfery (who was already tidying up the side of Harry's bed), and left the Hospital Wing.

"What does it mean with the 47% Madam Pomfery?" Remus asked curiously. Harry paid attention but tried to settle down on his own causing pain to rise up his shoulder. Remus jumped to his side "Careful there Harry."

"The 47% is the amount of toxin that is in the blood stream. If the toxin levels were anything above around 50% then it would continue to rise until the person is a full werewolf. This takes about a week after the initial infection," She came back to the side of Harry's bed and placed there an assortment of sweets "From your friends and admirers Potter. In Mr Potter's case, this time after the infection would have made the toxins react and he should have reached the peak of the toxin levels in him."

Harry realised something and asked "Madam Pomfery, now that I've got the toxins in my blood, will I change slightly? Will anything happen to me?"

Madam Pomfery stood up straight "You might get a bit tired around the time of the full moon, want to eat meat a little bit rawer, features slightly change. Anything of that sort. But it is highly unlikely that you will get more than one of those symptoms."

Remus patted Harry on his uninjured shoulder "I better get going. I think Madam Pomfery might let your friends in to see you in a minute - there is a risk that if she doesn't they might knock down the door in order to get to you. Have a good one Harry," just as he was about to leave Remus caught sight of Harry's face, sad and already slightly bored "Tell you what, I'll sneak you in some books from the black family library on Defence Against the Dark Arts so you don't get board."

Harry's face split into a grin "Thanks Remus."

Remus left and Madam Pomfery looked at Harry critically "You are not to exhaust yourself Potter; else I'll keep you here for a week."

"Yes Madam Pomfery," Harry responded, looking hopefully at the door to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfery gave a small sigh and went out of the doors for a minute. She talked to the people behind the door ("No more than four at a time!") and came back in with a rather worried looking four. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley came hurrying into the room.

"Harry!"

* * *

Yes *coughs nervously* there is actually a plot line I have decided on and I'm back! And (shock horror) the next chapter is written! I'm on a roll - writing with a plot is more fun than I thought it would be.

All Reviewers get virtual cookies : )


	3. III

Three days later Harry was settling down to do yet another pile of homework that the teachers had given to Hermione and Ron so they could give it to him. Most everybody from the DA had visited him and given him 'get well soon' cards and stopped by to have a chat. The cards were now taking up much of the space on him bedside table and some were on the floor, and Madam Pomfery had put a chair next to his bed so it was less awkward for Harry to look at them.

There was also a screen around his bed to stop people who wanted to peak at him (and some people had done this); faking or even giving themselves, an injury to get into the hospital wing and then spending all of their time there looking at him as if they wanted to ask him a thousand and one questions (and they probably did).

Mrs Weasley had stayed for about two hours next to Harry, before realising that she needed to get back home as Bill, the Weasley's oldest son, was due back from a business trip in France with Fleur and she didn't think that they would want to return to an empty house late at night. She had left with a hurried apology and a pat on the arm ("I'm sure you'll be out of here in a jiffy Harry.") which was unfortunate as it was the wrong arm and Harry had had to grit his teeth in order to stop from crying out.

Hermione and Ron, other than giving him up to date homework, had decided that they were going to keep him updated in all the gossip that had been circling around the castle. "Everyone thinks that You Know Who's behind it, everyone's saying that your in here and that Dumbledore has had to resort to necromancy just to keep you from dying." Which was quickly replaced by "Everyone's saying that your mortally wounded by a werewolf and that your ether going to become one and live, or die."

From then there had been a monotony of rumours about Harry meeting a horrible, slow and painful demise ("They don't half like to predict my death this school!") which Harry had simply lost interest in very quickly. Hermione had also done some research into what Harry might have to go through if there were any side effects. This also involved her giving Harry different cuts of meat all of differing stages of being cooked, and asking him which one he found more appealing to eat (Harry had answered with surprise that he felt more like eating the lesser cooked of the options rather than the more cooked options), borrowing Colin Creevey's camera to compare pictures of him now to pictures of him months ago and constantly testing his eyesight to see if there was any change in the way that he was seeing.

Ron on the other hand came into the hospital wing with more things for Harry to do other than homework; he bought in Harry's wizard chess set (the same one he had received in a Christmas cracker in first year), most of the mail that Harry received (mainly from reporters wanting to interview him about the werewolf attack) and a deck of playing cards which he used to teach Harry the game of solitaire (a game that he had picked up from Fred and George during the middle of the holidays when they had been developing their muggle range of tricks and games).

The Daily Profit was having a field day so it seemed. Remus had dropped off old copies along with the Defence Against the Dark Arts books that he had promised Harry. Since the attack the Profit had gone around to all the people at Hogwarts that it could manage. The Slytherins had, at first, tried to play the whole thing off as Harry wanting to have more attention so he went and did something stupid to get his name in the papers. Their tune had changed to "We hope he gets better too?" As soon as, Harry supposed, their parents had realised that they couldn't afford to say things like that if they wanted to stay popular in the wizarding world.

Two days after Harry had woken up there had been a Slug-club party announced for the following week, since he was in the Hospital Wing Ron and Hermione promised him that they would keep him updated on the goings on of the party. He thought that perhaps he could weedle his way out of the party but unfortunately (or, Harry supposed, fortunately for him) Madam Pomfery had told Ron and Hermione (who had forgotten to fight while he was in the hospital wing) that he would be out in good time for the party as long as he didn't exert himself too much.

Harry was halfway through his pile of homework when Madam Pomfery started to do another check on him; this involved taking off the bandages off her shoulder, checking that it was healing and then putting clean bandages on him. She told him that this was in order to stop infection as the bites were highly prone to infection if not carefully looked after. After she put the bandages back on she turned and faced him. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, nothing hurts that badly except my shoulder," Harry responded as he used his wand to summon 'The Standard Book of Spells Level 6' from the pile of books on his left side. Madam Pomfery started to check the chart at the bottom of his bed. Thinking that he was finished being talked to, Harry opened the book and started the essay that McGonagall had set (defining the difference in transforming animate objects into inanimate objects and transforming an inanimate object into an animate object).

"Mr Potter, I'm going to have to do some other tests on you before I discharge you," Madam Pomfrey said, snapping Harry's attention away from the third paragraph of the chapter he needed to read. "If I do them now then you will be able to go back to your lessons after lunchtime tomorrow. If you could put the book down for now, I can do the first few tests."

Harry put the book down and Madam Pomfery got work. She repeated some of the spells that she had done the first time he had been woken up. Instead of giving him time out like she had done the first day though, she asked him questions about the bite and what Harry had gone through.

"Does the bite hurt when your on the medication?"

"Not unless I move it or I brush it past something."

"Have you felt drowsy at any point in the day when you should be feeling fine - such as mid day and the like?"

"No Madam Pomfery."

After he answered any of the questions she would jot something down on the piece of parchment that she held on a clipboard in her hands. Soon though, it was time to get the results of the testing. Harry put his hand down on a fresh piece of parchment and the words formed again.

Harry James Potter  
Male  
16 year and 5 months

Curse Scar  
No impact on health at the present moment

Other Scars  
No impact in health

Werewolf Bite  
Toxin levels 49%  
Non - Lethal  
Magic resistant  
Toxin in bite not enough to cause transformation.

Madam Pomfery looked at the sheet as soon as the words appeared and scanned down the list quickly - Harry watched as she skimmed the lines of the report. She thought about something for a moment, she frowned in concentration until Harry could see that she had come up with a solution. "You're lucky Mr Potter; if that werewolf had been just a little bit stronger then you would be with Mr Lupin at the next full moon. As it is you'll have to check in with me next week the morning after Slughorn's party - don't say that I don't let the students of this school have a good time."

"Thank you Madam Pomfery," Harry said, picking his book up again and wincing as he accidentally hit the wound against the bedpost, his arm filled with pain. He was halfway through the chapter when someone opened the screen to his section slightly and came in.

"Good afternoon Harry," Professor Dumbledore said as he sat down in the chair next to Harry's bed.

"Good afternoon Professor."

"I trust you are well?" Dumbledore asked eyes flicking, as so many had, down to the bandages still slightly visible showing underneath Harry's pyjama top.

Harry gave a weary smile "As well as can be expected I suppose. Madam Pomfery says I should be out by lunchtime tomorrow!"

"Good news then," Dumbledore paused, blinked and then said "Harry I would just like to say that there have been rumours going around that I think will make your life a tad... difficult, when you get out of the hospital wing."

Harry nodded "Ron and Hermione said as much Sir."

"I would definitely keep those two as your friends," Dumbledore smiled "Good friends are hard to come by, but even harder to loose." He looked around as if wondering how to phrase what he was going to say "Harry the other professors and I are happy to help if there are any...difficulties that occur at any point in your year, our offices are always open."

"Even Snape's?" Harry said, joking.

Dumbledore chuckled "Professor Snape, Harry. Yes he has agreed to opening his office doors to you though I'm sure you might want to go to other Professors before you go to Professor Snape's."

"Duly noted Sir," Harry smiled "Professor Snape's office is the last resort."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with fading amusement "Harry, I must apologise for your attack."

Harry looked at him quizzically "How is my attack the result of anything you have done?"

The headmaster's face turned grave and he said "Voldemort seems to have realised that every time I apparate into or out of the castle there is a small glitch in the wards which means, just for a second, anything can get through. I was back from an order meeting with some of the other Professors when the attack occurred. The werewolf must have slipped out when I went to get Remus."

Harry paused, taking in all the information at his disposal "Why didn't you catch this before? You've been headmaster for years. Why is this year any different?"

Almost guiltily Dumbledore held up his blackened hand "The curse which did this to me seems to have trouble with the wards. Bill Weasley has been working on a new ward for the school, doing research in France and other countries looking for something to put around the school. If your wandering had taken place anytime after tomorrow you would have been safe."

Silence occurred for a moment before "I am so sorry my boy, if I had thought that a student would get harmed, that Voldemort would realise that there was a weakness in the wards surrounding the castle then none of this would have happened."

Harry opened his mouth to object, closed it, and then said "It wouldn't of happened, no, but better it happened to me than some poor first year."

"Why do you say that?" Said Dumbledore, confused.

"If it had been anyone else there would be nothing that they could do to get back at the people who did this to them."

"Revenge isn't the right path to take - anger clouds even the best of intentions. Take that from someone who knows."

"I'm not after revenge Professor," Harry said looking Dumbledore in the eye and noticing the lack of the usual sparkle "I'm going to do what's right, somehow I will get rid of Voldemort eventually. Even if it takes all the effort I have left. He will fall."

Dumbledore stood "Be very careful Harry with what you do."

Harry nodded "I will be."

In an obvious switch of subject Dumbledore then said "I see that once again your friends are determined to get you stocked up on sweets."

Harry looked around in confusion, his friends hadn't bought him any sweets "Sir what do you-"

He was cut off by the sound of the screen opening a second time and Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny came around the corner, arms full of sweets in brightly coloured wrappers. "Oh!" They stopped coming in and paused midway into the screened section. "Professor Dumbledore, we'll wait outside."

"No need, I was just on my way out anyhow," Dumbledore stood up and turned to Harry "We will have to have another lesson soon. I will send you a message." Harry nodded and the headmaster walked out of the Hospital Wing.

Before any of the others could say a single word Madam Pomfrey was back "Was that the headmaster leaving?" She said, then she caught sight of the four DA members "Mr Potter will be joining you at lunch tomorrow. I am sure that you can wait till then to give him sweets! He needs rest. Not sugar!"

Harry gave them an apologetic look. Hermione and Neville looked slightly abashed but the two Weasleys gave Harry grins "Well, we'll just have to tell the DA that you'll get their presents," here Ron nodded down at his load "tomorrow. Come on you lot! See you soon Harry, and don't do anything too stupid!"

"I won't." Harry said to his friends disappearing back, the others quickly said goodbye ("Make sure that it is tomorrow that we get to see you not next week!") and set off back out of the doors. Madam Pomfery put a clear vial of green potion in Harry's hands and took his book off him and placed it with the other books on the floor. She then fixed him with a no-nonsense stare.

"Mr Potter you need to have at least one night of good sleep and since I know that there is a high possibility that the excitement of going back to your classmates tomorrow might stop you from getting to sleep, I would like you to have some dreamless sleeping potion," she watched him expectantly and so Harry swallowed the potion in one gulp, it wasn't as bad as the one he had had to take when he had first woken up, but it was still pretty bad. Madam Pomfery nodded and then drew away, closed the screen behind her and then locked the Hospital Wings doors.

The lights around the hospital wing were extinguished and as Harry's sight slowly closed off, he heard the sound of Madam Pomfery going into her office.

A second later he was asleep.

* * *

The next chapter is finished : ) hence why this chapter is a bit late in coming. Be thankful as this means that I can start doing a chapter a week even though I have exams. There will be action coming soon, it is all planned.

"Wouldn't life be worth the living,

Wouldn't dreams be coming true,

If we kept the Christmas Spirit,

All Year Through."

- Unknown

Merry Christmas

(R&R)


	4. IV

There was a hush when Harry entered the great hall at lunchtime the next day, arm in a sling, books for the afternoon in a satchel over his shoulder and a note from Madam Pomfrey to his teachers about what Harry could and couldn't do, in his pocket. Harry looked at the rest of the school as he entered, judging on the way the people were looking at him if it would be safe to stay for lunch.

There were many looks of outright terror on some of the younger students' faces, they clearly weren't going to cause trouble but wished Harry no good. The older students clearly were deciding if they were going to join their younger house members in terror, or shield the younger people in their houses by putting themselves in front of Harry as if the very sight of him was so terrible that it warranted hiding.

Ron and Hermione were deep in a discussion with Ginny when Harry entered the hall, their heads bend closely Ginny quickly ran to him as soon as Harry was half way down the hall. "Harry!" she exclaimed, running smack bang into Harry's injured arm. Harry winced and noticed that some of the people nearest to him were nodding, ether their fear or the disgust on their faces growing as they did so. He returned the hug that Ginny had given him lightly and patted her (rather awkwardly) on the back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron and Hermione stand up and make their way over to him as well.

As Ron and Hermione reached the two of them Ginny pulled away from him "I'm glad that you're okay," she went back to where she had been sitting, but not before looking at the rest of the school who were still ogling Harry and clearing her throat. The other students in the school suddenly, as if they had been in a trace, went immediately back to whichever conversation Harry could only assume that they had been having before he had entered the Hall. Harry gave Ginny a grateful look and allowed Ron and Hermione to go steer him to a large empty area of the table. The other two, as soon as they had sat down, had filled Harry's plate with food and started up a new conversation ("I wonder if any members of the DA know what that was about?").

After a minute or two of failed conversation starters, Harry came back to himself "What was that?" he said as Hermione gave him an expectant look from the other side of the table.

She rolled her eyes at him and repeated the question she had asked him "I was wondering if you had any homework that you needed to get done before you get back to class?"

"No," said Harry, finally eating the food on the plate in front of him "I got it done this morning, the only thing that I have left is to read that chapter that Snape set for potions on Monday."

Ron looked at Harry shocked "I thought that you would be with me in the 'left till last minute' pile."

"Not everyone, Ronald," Hermione lectured "Has an inability to do homework more than a day before it was due. Harry here can now focus on getting through the weekend and Slughorn's party without having to worry about whether he did his homework for all of his classes."

"Yes Hermione, and how's your date?" Ron retorted, glaring.

"Not able to come with me," Hermione looked shifty at the table "He didn't respect my choice of friends."

"You mean me." Hermione looked at him in the eye and nodded slightly, Harry looked at Ron, "And you? What have people done to you?"

Ron didn't answer, only looked over at the rest of Gryffindor table where a group of sixth years, including Lavender Brown, were laughing and playing with their food. Lavender caught sight that the trio was looking at her and she gave them a haughty look. Ron, Harry and Hermione all turned away "She thought that I loved Hermione more than I loved her, that I was blind to the things that were right in front of me and that I only hung out with you to get attention." His voice sounded dejected.

Harry looked around the hall with a critical eye "You told me that some people thought I was dangerous, but I didn't think that the rest of the school had turned on me!"

"Not the whole school," Hermione corrected "Just most of the school, most of the DA members think that you're just the same old you with a few more scratches than before. I think it's the Voldemort situation all over again. Just make sure you're in full view in a week when the next full moon is, and they'll lay off and everything will go back to being normal." She sounded positive but Ron shared a look with Harry that clearly affirmed that he wasn't the only one to think that the chance of being left alone was too good to be true. "Anyway Harry," Hermione continued, clearly ether not seeing or choosing to ignore the look the boys had shared "I thought that since you hadn't been able to get a date for Slughorn's party yourself, I would set you up."

Both Harry and Ron spat out their pumpkin juice at the same time when they heard that "You did what?" Harry said not bothering to keep his voice down low enough for other people not to notice "Hermione, I can deal with going without a date to the party!"

"I thought," Hermione said, continuing on as if Harry hadn't talked at all "That you might want to look like a normal teenager at the party, get rid of some of the nastier rumours that are circulating about you and the attack."

"You did an awful lot of thinking while he was in the Hospital Wing, didn't you Hermione?" Ron commented in mock thought "Perhaps Harry here should employ you as his manager."

Hermione, to her credit, looked slightly abashed as she answered "Oh Ronald! I'm just thinking that there could be some use to dispelling rumours that have no basis, you know exactly the rumours that I am talking about and don't act ignorant!"

Harry cut in "Do I want to know the rumours that are going around?" The other two exchanged a look with each other and opened their mouths to say something when a familiar head of dark hair and another, equally familiar voice came up right next to them.

"I'm telling you Seamus, there is nothing that you can say, you are now into football and I will hear no more about it."

"But the players don't even do anything exciting in the game Dean," the Irish boy groaned "There is no point to it!"

"Says the person who so happens to wear the t-shirt we got at the game every time it's possible," the argument continued on so Harry cleared his throat in order to gain the attention of the two boys.

"Hhm!"

"But there is nothing there that I could like if I-"

"Hhm!"

"I wish you weren't so stubborn then we might get-"

"You two!"

The two other boys froze when Harry spoke, they held on their faces identical looks of surprise on his classmate's faces when they saw him were almost comical - eyes wide, mouth opened slightly and an overall look of shock, Harry braced himself for a barrage of insults but instead looking down at the table, wishing he could become one with it or better yet turn into a speck of dust on the floor. There silence for a minute, then an incredulous Seamus said "When did you get out of the Hospital Wing?"

"We thought you were dead!" piped in Dean.

Seamus looked at his friend with a look the said 'are you an idiot or what?' before turning back to Harry "I only thought that you had lost both arms and had to have replacements!"

"Well clearly," Harry said, gesturing to his body with his good hand "I got off lightly."

"The others in the year thought you weren't going to make it," Seamus continued, Ron's eyes grew wide in shock as if he knew what was coming next. Harry saw Ron shake his head slightly then look away, Seamus must have seen it as he shut up quickly. Dean on the other hand continued for him.

"Some of the other Gryffindors were thinking of turning your bed into a memorial. I think one of them even set your bed on-" Dean suddenly took an interest in the food in front of him and commented "I better tuck in otherwise I'll miss breakfast altogether!"

"And we couldn't have that," Seamus chimed in smirking. Harry though, was looking at the two of them in suspicion.

"What did they do to my bed?"

"Nothing, everything's right where it was before anything happened to your bed," Ron added, seemingly to his shepherds pie "not that anything happened to your bed" he mumbled afterwards.

"Ron..."

"Some first years may have moved you bed into the common room, some of them may have put candles and things on it so they felt better, nothing really," it was Hermione this time, defending the actions of their fellow housemates.

"So I'm going to need to move the bed back, clean off the wax and then hope that they didn't put anything else on it?" Harry hissed back at the other four who switched to looking slightly amused.

"No," Seamus winked "Why did you think that it took us so long to get to breakfast? We thought that we'd be nice and get everything ready for your return after Ron and Hermione told us that you would be back tonight so we stripped it down and made it back up."

"Problem is," Dean added "We put it back wrong so we had to get some help and some of the house isn't happy due to some things that certain people in the school were saying so we had to get some people from other houses into the common room (yes Ron they were all members of the DA) and finally got it to what we thought was the right place when someone bumped into it and it kind of fell apart."

"So I have no bed!" Harry exclaimed "Great!"

"We never said that Harry, you forget - we're wizards - we cast reparo and it fixed itself right back up to the way that it was before any of the first years messed with it. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for your pyjamas, which were damaged more than any of us knew how to repair. So we bought you new ones. They'll arrive tomorrow, in the meantime we asked some of the house elves to get you some pyjamas, the only ones they found were pink." Seamus took a deep breath "And there are flowers all over it but hay, on the bright side everything is fine."

There was a clatter of noise behind them which drew Harry's attention away from counting to ten to clear his mind of his annoyance. It seemed that someone had upset their pumpkin juice on the lap of the person next to them on purpose and their friend had bat-bogey hexed them for their troubles. Harry took a brief second while the two Ravenclaws regained their composure to look at the time "Guys, class in five minutes."

"Have you got all of your books?" Hermione asked getting up from the table with Ron, Dean and Seamus, they had failed to notice that the great hall was half empty and loosing students fast.

"Yep!" said Harry, patting the bag at his side happily. Seamus and Dean were quick to affirm that they to had grabbed their things. Ron, on the other hand, went pale "Hermione, I..."

"Ron-" Hermione was about to scold Ron about not being prepared enough for his schooling when she moved her hands to her hip before changing her tone "We better go and get your things then Ron, hadn't we?"

Harry went to follow the two of them when Hermione continued "There's no point in us all being late for Slughorn. Seamus, Dean, I know it's a bit out of your way but could you make sure that Harry gets to the dungeon please. We'll be there soon."

As the two prefects ran up the stairs Harry heard Ron comment "You've forgotten your things too, haven't you?"

Harry turned to Seamus and Dean "You don't have to come with me, I'm fine to go down to the dungeons on my own - I'm not an invalid!"

"Oh don't worry Harry, we've been meaning to find a reason to get down there so that we can try one of the passageways down there - the one at the end of the corridor - this gives us a reason to be there and a reason for being late to class," Dean chirped, starting off out of the entrance hall. Seamus clapped him on the shoulder (thankfully the uninjured one) and yelled at his friend to slow down. The two boys caught up with Dean and they set off down the corridor.

By the time that the three of them reached the potions lab, Harry knew that he was late - there was a distinct lack of people in the corridors and an extreme quiet was over the hallways. Harry thanked Dean and Seamus when they reached the door to the classroom and they quickly parted ways. Harry put his uninjured hand on the doorknob and entered the room as quietly as possible. The rest of the class were bent over their books and measuring potions ingredients as they did so.

Professor Slughorn noticed Harry when the door shut behind him with a loud 'thunk'. "Harry my boy, have a seat, we're just making drought of living death again today so you don't have to worry about overtaxing yourself. Where's Miss Granger and Mr Wesley?"

"Weasley Sir, and they're on their way - they left their books behind in the tower and only realised it when they were on the way here," Harry handed Slughorn the note that Madame Pomfrey had given him.

"No doubt they were so excited to see you again that they forgot everything else," Slughorn mumbled as he read the note. Finishing reading the note quickly he looked around the class over the top of Harry's head "You'll need someone to pair up with for a week or two"

'Or several,' Harry added in his mind, not liking where this was heading.

"We better put you with someone who has skill sin potion making, there is no point in putting you with someone who doesn't do so well, how would you learn. If Miss Granger was here then I would pair you up with her but as she is not... Malfoy?"

Malfoy looked up from his cauldron and Harry's heart fell in his chest, if he was paired with Malfoy then who knew what would happen to him, on the other hand it would mean getting closer to the Death Eater and possible he would be able to figure out his plans. Slughorn told Malfoy of Harry's predicament and Malfoy smirked, just as Harry sat down next to his arch rival, Ron and Hermione entered the room, both panting and slightly flushed.

"Sorry Professor," Hermione said as she and Ron slipped into seats halfway down the classroom "We forgot-"

"Your books, yes dear not to worry, I'm sure you'll catch up to the rest of the class in no time. Draught of Living Death if you wouldn't mind Miss Granger, perhaps you could help out Mr Wesley there with his, he might learn something off you."

The class settled down, turning around slightly, Harry could see Ron's face through the murky light of the potions classroom, it was bright red. Malfoy kicked him "So Potter, couldn't deal with not being the centre of Weasley's world? had to get poor Ronnie back from the grips of the terrible Lav Lav?"

Malfoy laughed unkindly as he set up the fire underneath the cauldron and lit it adding a drop of essence of dittany. Harry glared at him "At least I don't hide behind my father and all his death eater friends."

"You don't have a father Potter, are you delusional remember?" Malfoy put on a patronising voice "Your father, and your mother, are dead. They have no friends. Because they are dead." He dropped the act, Harry gripped onto the table with his good hand.

"And a good thing too if you ask me."

Was it Harry's imagination, or was the potion in front of the two of them bubbling a little more then it should be at the moment. Was it just a trick of the light, or did the flames on all of the potions seem to be growing in size rather fast?

"Good thing that nobody did ask you isn't it?" Harry shot back, anger almost reaching the surface. Malfoy once again smirked in the annoying way of his and added another ingredient to the potion, Harry saw him open his mouth to hit back the comment when 'BANG!' the potion next to him went up in an explosion of sticky blue liquid, drenching the two of them in itself making it hard for them to move. Harry got some up his nose, in his mouth, on his glasses. Malfoy seemed to get a mouthful of the potion.

'BANG!' the potion behind them too went up, and the potion to the front of them. People were screaming and moving out of the way of their potions. Harry tried to move but his arms and legs were heavy. Blackness, for what seemed like the millionth time in the last few weeks, circled his vision.

Another potion went up in a mass of green liquid and it smothered the two boys in substance with the consistency of concrete, it was getting harder to breathe, let alone move. To his right Malfoy fell over onto the floor, the liquids covering him seemed to crawl up to his head and covered it. Harry felt a tugging sensation and found that his strength had deserted him.

His head hit the floor.

He saw Slughorn raise his wand.

And then the world turned black.

* * *

At this point the next chapter is not written - I have to do my exams unfortunately. By the time this goes up however (I'm writing this just after I posted the last chapter) I will only have one exam left - my science 3 hour exam. I'm actually looking forwards to it.

After that exam I will be on holiday from school so I will make sure to update once a week and will write fast enough so you aren't cheated out of a chapter while I'm in England on holiday over Christmas (thank my cousin for the Christmas quote on the last chapter, we were talking Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a happy exams to all the kiwi college (high school) students : )

feel free to review


End file.
